Gold Mining

Our plan today was to visit two small historical towns - Kellogg and Wallace - about an hour from where we’re staying, but we had so much fun at the first stop we never made it further. 

Kellogg is home to the Crystal Gold Mine (here). Once a working mine, today it offers mine tours, gold panning, gemstone sluicing and spray painting VW Bugs(!). Something for everyone.

I was surprised how much we all enjoyed panning for gold. One of the employees gave us some useful pointers, then left us to it. Pop and Leo were very good at finding gold flakes, while Jac and I found mostly pretty rocks. 

The ‘gemstones’ were in a pre-packaged bag of sand so the girls were guaranteed to find gems. (Pay more, find more…) They were both glued to their sluice screens, concentrating on finding all they could. 

The mine tour was interesting, one of the better ones we’ve done. The mine opened in 1879, operated during the 1880’s, 

then was boarded up and forgotten until a century later. It was rediscovered in 1991 during nearby freeway construction.

Interesting tidbits: gold was found only in veins of quartz; no white rocks, no yellow gold. 

The mine is 900’ underground 

and (Jac was not happy to discover) it is pitch black when the lights are out. 

Several flooded areas have healthy groups of fish; the water is clear and fresh. 

Colors of Smithsonite reflect the minerals in the rock - purple is manganese, blue is cobalt, green is copper, orange/brown is iron and black is silver. Although there’s silver in the rock, it wasn’t mined because it wasn’t valuable in the 1880’s. 

Black lines are silver

There are a few places with gold still visible. 

 Small veins of gold

There’s also a rare example of naturally-occurring silver wire, which is 100% pure silver. 

 Rare silver wire

We weren’t expecting a lot but this turned out to be a great place to visit. One nice thing about visiting off-season is the lack of crowds and more personalized attention. Nobody was rushing us and we ended up staying almost 3 hours. 

Idahoooooo

Wednesday was a long day - up at 4, on the road at 7 for our 1 pm flight (you never know what LA traffic - or airport security - is going to do. Much better to be really early…) Then a 2 hour drive in the rain to see -

these cuties. 

We’re staying in a tiny house (here) on the banks of the St. Joe River. 

I was afraid we’d feel cramped in the 399 sq. ft. space, 

but the high ceilings make it feel spacious and there’s a crazy amount of very clever storage places. 

 Marie, Leo and Kenia; their side yard, Polish chicks and bunny sisters, S’mores and Butterscotch.

Jac had school today, so we just hung out at Marie’s house and around town until she was done. 

Jac: Grandma! This ice cube has a mouth so it goes in my mouth! (I’ve really missed daily Jackie-isms.)

We’re planning to visit a gold mine and a couple of historic towns tomorrow. Hoping the rain holds off  - our lazy day today had clear skies, of course - but either way, it’ll be fun hanging out with the grand girls again.

Happy Mom’s Day!

We had lunch 

with the (much smaller) CA branch today to celebrate Mother’s Day. 

Marie’s crew took in a renaissance faire yesterday, complete with make-up and costume by Leo (she designed and sewed it herself). She also bejeweled Jac’s face. So cute!

Matt’s bunch took a hike, listened to live music and had a Men In Black marathon. Sounds perfect. 

Poor Rachel had to celebrate by phone since we’ve stolen her child until the end of May. Lucky me!

Happy Mother’s Day y’all!

 Can you see all 3 of us?

Fast Finish

Mary and I are celebrating Mother’s Day tomorrow with a FaceTime macrame party, making this plant hanger.

Thought I’d get a head start by cutting the cords tonight…

then there were a couple of knots I didn’t know, so maybe try them out… 

and before I realized it, the hanger was done. Oops!

Turned out to be a good thing. I cut the cords waaaaaay too short, which I figured out about halfway through. Added a bead here, left a section (or three) out there and presto-changeo a cute, tiny plant hanger. 

Teeny tiny on the far left

I was going to rip it out but Pop convinced me to keep it. Now that it’s finished - and a pot actually fits inside - I’m glad I listened. Hoping tomorrow’s project is more ‘real’ sized.

70’s Flashback

This one is Mary’s fault. 

Back in December, she signed us up for a macrame class at our local fancy plant shop (making the gnomes) and I remembered how much fun knotting can be.

Yes, I could have bought plant hangers on Am*zon for cheap but what’s the fun in that? The idea is to take advantage of the great light from our front window and also keep plants out of kitty’s reach. 

Pattern is ‘No Tassel Easy Plant Hanger’ by Marching North (here). Great directions - there's a free (with ads) and a pay (no ads) version - plus YouTube videos of various knots and the step-by-step knot-along. 

It took me two evenings to finish, and it’s not perfect, but I had fun and love how it looks. 

Also added a disco ball planter. So sparkly and silly.

Mary and I are going to make another hanger (this one) on Mother’s Day, crafting together via FaceTime. Can’t wait!

Also, Coco Chai (her now official name) did great at the vet. She wasn’t happy about it - she jumped off the exam table and tried to make herself invisible by pressing her nose in a corner - but she cooperated and didn’t make a fuss. Such a good little girl!

Entertaining the Teenager

So far Cyrus has... had a driving lesson in the van - CA roads are scary, she says. I think the plan is to bring her car out when she returns in August, so van-ing will be temporary. At least she won’t be stuck waiting for us to drive her somewhere.

Showed her how to repot African violets - she has her own now - and the two orchids she bought this week. One of the orchids has something weird going on with its roots so we’re waiting on advice to deal with that. (And yes, I am trying to hook her into allllllll my favorite hobbies.)

Tried to interest her in learning macrame but she wasn’t a fan (she braided the cords instead.) I haven’t given up though! She liked the plant hanger I made so we may try another project soon. She’s also been through my remaining yarn stash and has two new projects on the hook. 

Playing with Coco has been the most entertaining. Kitty has an appointment tomorrow to get microchipped so we’ll see how mad at us she is afterward. 

Planning to either go thrifting - looking for more cut crystal bowls to hold plant pots (not many people want them apparently, they can be pretty inexpensive) - or go visit her potential college and arrange a counseling appointment. 

All that, plus the beach adventure, in the first week - three more to go before she heads back to CO. 

Feline Paparazzi

Coco* has mostly hung out in the upstairs bedroom since she arrived on Saturday. She’s very shy and hasn’t been interested in exploring. 

Hanging with Cyrus

She’s willing to interact with me if I go upstairs and she loooooooves Cyrus. She’s also not food-motivated so our plans to bribe her with treats has been a bust.

So imagine my surprise when Cyrus started sending me photos last night about 1 am. 

Coco decided to be brave and sloooooowly made her way down the stairs, with proud Cyrus literally documenting her every step. 

She explored most of the downstairs before bolting back to ‘her’ room. 

Hoping she’ll be comfortable enough to use her cat tree and hang out with us in another week or so.

Isn’t she pretty?? 

* Cyrus is pushing for a name change to Pepper, short for Peppermint Patty, in keeping with my history of naming cats for candy bars. Maybe…. but I still like Coco(a) ….